


Fading

by Jaelijn



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s10e10 The Hunter Games, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 18:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3219812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaelijn/pseuds/Jaelijn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not everything is all right with Castiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fading

**Author's Note:**

> Episode Tag to 10x10 The Hunter Games. Spoiler warning! 
> 
> Written before the next episode airs, so it might not quite fit into canon anymore pretty soon, but I like to imagine this happened at some point.

“What the hell, Cas?”

“Hell has nothing to do with this, Dean.”

“That’s not the way I see it.”

“Then you are mistaken.”

“Cas,” Sam cut in patiently from the right. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Castiel faltered for a moment, breaking eye contact with Dean. He would have preferred not to explain. He had learned that keeping things hidden from the Winchesters wasn’t the best choice, but he would have liked to spare them _this_. “It’s not important. Getting rid of the Mark–“

“The hell it isn’t!”

Cas shook his head. “Dean…”

“No, don’t do that. I knew what I was getting myself into, alright. This thing has got to go, and soon, but right now we have no idea how, so I might bloody well worry about something else, yeah?!”

“You have both already done so much to help me with Claire. I should–“

Dean jumped to his feet, his chair toppling over. “Don’t you dare!”

“Dean,” Sam said, his hand hovering just shy of Dean’s arm. “Calm down.”

“I’m _fine_ – just look at _him_.”

Sam had, and he knew well enough what Dean was getting at. He’d seen the ugly tail end of the process before, of course, and he felt sorry for not paying closer attention then, but Dean had been _missing_ , Dean had been a _demon_ , and, well… he’d gone a bit crazy. “Dean, sit down. You, too, Cas. You don’t have to leave yet.”

Castiel settled back down, looking actually grateful. The change was subtle. A slight pallor, his gaze just a touch less sharp, less ethereal. Maybe it hadn’t been Sam’s imagination after all that it took long to break open that door earlier. He’d thought it was because he was impatient, and every fraction of a second seemed too long.

Cas was avoiding his gaze. “It really doesn’t matter. I just need to rest.”

“Cas, you shouldn’t need rest. You’re a frigging angel,” Dean murmured, more to the table than to any of them, his hands splayed out on the surface.

Cas, of course, had no difficulties hearing. “The grace isn’t my own. There were bound to be… complications.”

“Meaning you’re dying. Again.”

It’s not news. Of course it wasn’t, they’d all known when Cas came back ‘recharged’. It still hung over them heavily, like a cloud of thunder, after it was out in the air.

Sam cleared his throat. “Cas, is… is it fading quicker?”

“Insignificantly, but yes.” Castiel drew in a deep breath. “I’m not sure why. There is no precedent for this.”

“Meta-douche say anything about where he stashed your grace?”

Castiel’s face hardened. “Metatron is imprisoned, and he will remain so.”

The memory of events earlier that day hovered over them again, unspoken.

“It can’t hurt to ask,” Sam suggested, tentatively.

“No. Metatron acts in no interest but his own. Hannah, she… She tried, before. I don’t want his help.”

And yet Cas hadn’t hesitated to deliver Metatron to them, and almost to his death, in the hope of finding help for Dean, but that, of course, remained unsaid.

Dean inhaled sharply, picking at some unseen imperfection of the table. “So where does this leave you?”

Castiel just shrugged, a tentative smile forming. “Here, if you will have me. I will do what I can to help.”

Sam answered the earnest gaze with a sincere smile. He’d made the mistake of pushing Cas away before, but he wasn’t about to repeat that error. “Thanks, Cas.”

Dean looked like he was about to argue, but at Cas’s nod towards Sam, he deflated. “Yeah. Okay.”


End file.
